Long-life abrasive pad assembly

ABSTRACT

An abrasive pad assembly, comprising having an abrasive layer having first and second surfaces with the first surface being coated with material particles having predetermined hardness characteristics, a substrate having first and second surfaces with the first surface attached to the second surface of the abrasive layer, the substrate being composed of a material having stiff and resilient characteristics, and a fastening layer having first and second surfaces with the first surface being attached to the second surface of the substrate and the first surface having fastening material disposed thereon.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/587,238, filed on Nov. 16, 2017, and entitled “LONG-LIFEABRASIVE PAD,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

Sandpaper and other abrasive pads are generally known and used in avariety of industries for removing material from surfaces of variousmaterials, e.g., wood, in order to smooth the surfaces, roughen thesurfaces, and/or prepare them for subsequent treatment after one or moretop layers of material are removed. These products are consumable andgenerally have a short work life due to the high degree of wear and tearcaused during the abrasion process. As such, these products rapidlydeteriorate, which results in a quickly diminishing service life andperformance. Frequently changing out worn out pads in order to maintaina sufficient level of performance is generally a tedious and costlyprocess.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to a long-life abrasive pad assembly.

According to an aspect is an abrasive pad assembly, comprising: anabrasive layer having first and second surfaces with the first surfacebeing coated with material particles having predetermined hardnesscharacteristics; a substrate having first and second surfaces with thefirst surface attached to the second surface of the abrasive layer, thesubstrate being composed of a material having stiff and resilientcharacteristics; and a fastening layer having first and second surfaceswith the first surface being attached to the second surface of thesubstrate and the first surface having fastening material disposedthereon.

According to an embodiment, the fastening material comprises loopfabric.

According to an embodiment, the material articles are composed of atleast one of diamond, cubic boron nitride, aluminum oxide, siliconcarbide, and garnet.

According to an embodiment, the substrate is composed of any of steel,brass, and aluminum.

According to an aspect is a handheld tool assembly, comprising: (a) amotor; (b) a fastening surface operably connected to the motor; and (c)an abrasive pad assembly, comprising: (i) an abrasive layer having firstand second surfaces with the first surface being coated with materialparticles having predetermined hardness characteristics; (ii) asubstrate having first and second surfaces with the first surfaceattached to the second surface of the abrasive layer, the substratebeing composed of a material having stiff and resilient characteristics;and (iii) a fastening layer having first and second surfaces with thefirst surface being attached to the second surface of the substrate andthe first surface having fastening material disposed thereon; whereinthe fastening layer is removably connected to the fastening surface.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from theembodiments described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the sameparts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed uponillustrating the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a top view of an abrasive pad according to one embodimentdisclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the abrasive pad of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a system that includes a handheld deviceconfigured to receive the abrasive pad of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a photograph of two abrasive pads and a handheld deviceconfigured to receive the abrasive pads according to one embodimentdisclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, an abrasive pad 10 includes anabrasive surface 12. The abrasive surface 12 may be formed from orinclude any material with a high hardness that is capable of scratchingor abrading other materials. Examples of materials that can be used forthe abrasive surface 12 include diamond, cubic boron nitride, aluminumoxide, silicon carbide, garnet, and other materials that have hardnessessimilar to these materials, e.g., according to the Mohrs, Vickers, orother hardness scale. The abrasive surface 12 may comprise grit, chunks,particles, flakes, shaving, chips, grains, or other fragments of any ofthe aforementioned materials. The diameter or dimensions of thesefragments may range in size depending on the desired smoothness desiredto be achieved by the abrasive surface 12, i.e., with smoother finishestypically corresponding to smaller sized fragments.

As shown in FIG. 2, the abrasive surface 12 of the abrasive pad 10 issecured to a substrate 14, which is provided to provide structurallyintegrity to the abrasive pad 10. For example, the substrate 14 may takethe form of a sheet or plate of durable and generally stiff butresilient material, such as steel, brass, aluminum, or other metals. Inone embodiment, the abrasive surface 12 is made from a composite of theaforementioned abrasive material and a bonding material to secure theabrasive material to the substrate 14. The process to bond said abrasiveto the substrate may alternately and/or additionally include, but is notlimited to, electroplating, brazing, soldering, epoxy, or any otheradhesive or bonding processes known or discovered.

Opposite to the abrasive surface 12, the abrasive pad 10 includes afastening surface 16 secured to the substrate 14 that enables theabrasive pad 10 to be detachably secured to a handheld abrading device.In one embodiment, the fastening surface 16 comprises a hook material ora loop material that corresponds to complementary hook or loop materialof an abrading device, e.g., a handheld powered or unpowered deviceconfigured to receive and attach to the abrasive pad 10.

In FIG. 3, a handheld device 18 is illustrated having a fasteningsurface 20, which is complementarily formed with respect to thefastening surface 16 such that the surfaces 16 and 20 together form ahook and loop type fastener or other detachable attachment means 22. Inthis way, the abrasive pad 10 is capable of detachably securing to arotating, member 24 of the device 18. For example, the device 18 may bean electrically or pneumatically powered sanding tool having a handle 25arranged to be held by a user, a trigger 26 to be pulled to initiatemovement of the member 24, and a motor 28 coupled to the member 24,e.g., via a shaft, to provide the aforementioned movement in response toinput from the trigger 26. Advantageously, the attachment means 22facilitates the abrasive pad 10 to be quickly and easily changed, e.g.,to a variety of different abrasive grit sizes of the material of theabrasive surface 12 for multiple different abrading procedures orapplications.

As another example, a handheld device 30 is illustrated in FIG. 4. Thehandheld device 30 includes a main body 32 (e.g., which may house amotor or other actuator or movement generator) to which a vibrating oroscillating member 34 is attached. The member 34 includes a fasteningsurface 36 which may include hook and/or loop material as describedabove with respect to the surfaces 16 and 20 and the attachment means 22in order to detachably secure the abrasive pad 10 thereto. Two of theabrasive pads 10, designated with reference numerals 10 a and 10 b, areillustrated in FIG. 4. More specifically, the fastening surface 16 ofthe abrasive pad 10 a and the abrasive surface 12 of the abrasive pad 10b are shown face up, respectively, in FIG. 4.

While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustratedherein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision avariety of other means and/or structures for performing the functionand/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantagesdescribed herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications isdeemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments describedherein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations describedherein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters,dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon thespecific application or applications for which the inventive teachingsis/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalentsto the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is,therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presentedby way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claimsand equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practicedotherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventiveembodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individualfeature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein.In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent,is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be presentother than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause,whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when usedin conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer,in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other thanB); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should beunderstood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. Forexample, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall beinterpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, butalso including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated tothe contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when usedin the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactlyone element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or”as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusivealternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded byterms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of” “only one of,” or“exactly one of” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims,shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one stepor act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarilylimited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method arerecited.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual ofPatent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

What is claimed is:
 1. An abrasive pad assembly, comprising: a. Anabrasive layer having first and second surfaces with the first surfacebeing coated with material particles having predetermined hardnesscharacteristics; b. A substrate having first and second surfaces withthe first surface attached to the second surface of the abrasive layer,the substrate being composed of a material having stiff and resilientcharacteristics; and c. A fastening layer having first and secondsurfaces with the first surface being attached to the second surface ofthe substrate and the first surface having fastening material disposedthereon.
 2. The abrasive pad assembly according to claim 1, wherein thefastening material comprises loop fabric.
 3. The abrasive pad assemblyaccording to claim 1, wherein the material articles are composed of atleast one of diamond, cubic boron nitride, aluminum oxide, siliconcarbide, and garnet.
 4. The abrasive pad assembly according to claim 1,wherein the substrate is composed of any of steel, brass, and aluminum.5. A handheld tool assembly, comprising: a. a motor b. a fasteningsurface operably connected to the motor; and c. an abrasive padassembly, comprising: i. an abrasive layer having first and secondsurfaces with the first surface being coated with material particleshaving predetermined hardness characteristics; ii. a substrate havingfirst and second surfaces with the first surface attached to the secondsurface of the abrasive layer, the substrate being composed of amaterial having stiff and resilient characteristics; and iii. afastening layer having first and second surfaces with the first surfacebeing attached to the second surface of the substrate and the firstsurface having fastening material disposed thereon; d. wherein thefastening layer is removably connected to the fastening surface.
 6. Thehandheld tool assembly according to claim 5, wherein the fasteningsurface comprises one of hook and loop material, and the fastening layercomprising the other of hook and loop material.
 7. The handheld toolassembly according to claim 5, wherein the fastening material comprisesloop fabric.
 8. The handheld tool assembly according to claim 5, whereinthe material articles are composed of at least one of diamond, cubicboron nitride, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, and garnet.
 9. Thehandheld tool assembly according to claim 5, wherein the substrate iscomposed of any of steel, brass, and aluminum.